Traffic and Respiratory Health

描述（由申请人提供）：在过去的二十年中，交通量一直在稳步增长，是当地空气污染的重要来源，“当地”最有可能涵盖较小的区域（例如，~500米至1公里的邻里规模）比代表一个典型的国家空气质量网络监测网站。美国环境保护署（EPA）的监测点旨在代表城市范围内的人类暴露（例如，4至100公里）。随着使用更高效燃料（即柴油）的经济压力，与交通有关的标志物（如二氧化氮（NO2）和元素碳（EC））水平可能会上升，导致敏感人群呼吸影响的风险增加。与农药有关的污染物，包括NO2和含EC的颗粒污染，与不利的健康影响有关，NO2是EPA监测的标准污染物。1994年至2000年期间，超过1,100名儿童和2,300名妇女参加了我们在康涅狄格州和马萨诸塞州中部进行的呼吸健康前瞻性队列研究，该地区包括已经和仍然处于“未达到”EPA空气质量标准的地区。为了分析空气污染对健康的影响，我们不得不依赖于在EPA空气质量监测站测量的高质量但空间有限的污染物数据。尽管存在这种局限性，但我们已经证明了污染随时间变化对呼吸系统健康的不利影响：例如，哮喘儿童的日常症状和/或药物使用风险随着每日空气污染水平的增加而增加。使用地理信息系统（GIS）技术和数据从各种空间相关的来源，我们建议开发交通产生的污染物的估计具有更高的空间和时间分辨率比测量从EPA监测器可以提供。我们的目标是估计由于附近住宅周围的缓冲区（例如500米半径）内的交通造成的污染水平，即，住宅污染水平。我们计划在较大的暴露区域（12 x12 km网格-约12 x12 km网格）内使用NO2和EC的估计值来捕获区域来源造成的背景污染水平。100网格在我们的14,600平方公里的研究区域）产生的综合气象排放模型，包括区域交通，土地利用，气象，地形和排放源。本研究的主要目的是使用我们改进的暴露估计来检查交通产生的污染对呼吸系统健康的影响，在东北部使用我们的大量健康信息档案。婴儿，幼儿和孕妇哮喘，在我们的研究人群中代表的群体，可能对空气污染特别敏感。我们项目的新奇在于首次使用复杂大气模型的污染物估计来研究短期暴露于空气污染对呼吸道疾病的影响。我们提出的研究的优势包括两个方面的改进 可应用于大型流行病学研究的接触估计技术，以及在分析呼吸系统健康影响时使用这些接触估计数。公共卫生相关性：由于这一项目而开发的接触评估技术将推进空气污染流行病学研究中的接触估计领域，并为评估交通对公共健康的影响提供一个重要工具。改进的健康影响估计应提供重要的信息，以了解目前的空气质量标准如何保护我们地区的敏感人群。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Traffic, which has been steadily increasing over the past two decades, represents an important local source of air pollution, with "local" most likely encompassing a smaller area (e.g., ~500 m to 1 km neighborhood-scale) than is represented by a typical National Air Quality Network monitoring site. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) monitoring sites are intended to represent human exposure on an urban-scale (e.g., 4 to 100 km). With the economic pressure to use more efficient fuel (i.e. diesel fuel) levels of traffic-related markers, such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and elemental carbon (EC) will likely rise resulting in an increased risk for respiratory effects in sensitive populations. Traffic-related pollutants, including NO2 and EC-containing particle pollution, have been associated with adverse health effects, and NO2 is a criteria pollutant monitored by the EPA. Between 1994 and 2000, over 1,100 children and 2,300 women participated in our prospective cohort studies of respiratory health conducted in Connecticut and central Massachusetts, a region including areas that have been and remain in "non-attainment" with EPA air quality standards. For analyses of the health effects of air pollution we have had to rely on the high quality, but spatially limited pollutant data measured at EPA air quality monitoring sites. In spite of this limitation, we have demonstrated adverse respiratory health effects with the temporal variability of pollution: e.g., risk of daily symptoms and/or medication use among asthmatic children with increases in daily levels of air pollution. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology and data from a variety of spatially-related sources, we propose to develop estimates of traffic-generated pollutants with higher spatial and temporal resolution than measurements from EPA monitors can provide. Our goal is to estimate levels of pollution due to traffic within buffers (e.g. a 500 m radius) around a residence within a neighborhood, i.e., residential-scale pollution levels. We plan to capture background pollution levels due to regional sources using estimates of NO2 and EC within larger exposure areas (12x12 km grids - approx. 100 grids in our 14,600 km2 study area) produced by an integrated meteorologic emissions model that includes regional traffic, land use, meteorology, topography, and emissions sources. The primary aim of this study is to use our improved exposure estimates to examine the impact of traffic-generated pollution on respiratory health in the Northeast using our substantial archive of health information. Infants, young children and pregnant asthmatic women, groups represented in our study populations, may be especially sensitive to air pollution. The novelty of our project is the first ever use of pollutant estimates from sophisticated atmospheric models to study the effects short-term exposure to air pollution on respiratory morbidity. The strengths of our proposed research include both improvements in exposure estimation techniques that can be applied to large epidemiological studies, and use of these exposure estimates in the analysis of respiratory health effects. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The exposure assessment techniques developed as a result of this project will advance the field of exposure estimation in epidemiological studies of air pollution and provide an important tool for assessing the public health impact of traffic. Improved health effect estimates should provide important information for how well current air quality standards protect sensitive populations in our region.